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quartziteflight
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 14, 2007 - 12:46pm PT
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hey tacoheads!
9 months ago I injured my left ankle trail running. I took time off,did the RICE thing pretty regularly and the f*cker still isn't close to a 100%.
I've had way worse ankle injuries in the past. This one didn't even turn blue/black/purple or that nasty yellow color.
I have pain on the inside of my left foot directly below the ankle bone(S). It usually doesn't hurt when I'm climibing or running it hurts the next morning especially after crack climbing or lots of route climbing. I guess it's possible I have a bone chip floating around in there, but my best guess is it's an adhesion or a ligament that didn't heal properly.
I know the best course of action would be to go see a specialist then got to PT for a while, but that sure as hell ain't happening right now.
Here's what I think might help it.
1)heat the bugger up!
2) do some light stretching
3) ice the bugger down
4-wear a brace when climbing and in the morning. Avoid cracks!:-(
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
cheers
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DavisGunkie
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Dec 14, 2007 - 01:59pm PT
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that sounds similar to symptoms i have. i never had swelling or bruising
i recently messed up my ankle playing soccer. Doc thinks its some weird combination sprain part high ankle part other.
its possible you tore some cartilage or some other injury, did you ever have x-rays? could be a bone lesion as well
i was told to work on strengthening exercises: e.g. therapy band, wobble board type stuff
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quartziteflight
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2007 - 02:01pm PT
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no x-rays
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DavisGunkie
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Dec 14, 2007 - 02:06pm PT
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hows your range of motion? weight-bearing?
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Dec 14, 2007 - 02:14pm PT
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How old are you?
Does it hurt more or less now than it did a month or two ago?
Do you have good medical insurance?
Find a good sports med doc, maybe get an MRI if he thinks you need one, more therapy, avoid surgery. Yeah, you can't do that, but you;d better suck it up and do it anyway.
My official BULLSh!T opinion is, ligament trouble.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Dec 14, 2007 - 02:23pm PT
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you need an orthotic, not custom (expensive) but fitted from a selection. see a podiatrist
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quartziteflight
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2007 - 08:50pm PT
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alrighty I don't have insurance and all...Range of moition is good as is strength except for going down stairs..
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Dec 14, 2007 - 10:56pm PT
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yeah.. the whole visit and orthotic may cost about $150-$200 all together. without insurance coverage. might just check it out
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Dec 14, 2007 - 11:23pm PT
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You didn't answer on how old you are and if it hurts more now than it did two months ago.
If it's getting worse, you better lay off.
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Lost Arrow
Trad climber
The North Ridge of the San Fernando
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Dec 14, 2007 - 11:41pm PT
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I broke my ankle three years ago and it still gives me pain every day.
Its all about Karma.
Lost
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climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Dec 15, 2007 - 12:09am PT
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After years of spraining my ankles, I finally gave one the mother-of-all-twists while wearing a 90 pound haulbag. It hurt every day for a year. I had very limited mobility, crack climbing was very painful, trail running could be excruciatingly painful and even just the shocks from mountain biking hurt. Every day I would hobble for the first half hour after getting up.
Finally my wife made me see a doc. After X-rays and an MRI, I got arthroscopic surgery. They took out two loose bone chips and cut off a giant bone spur which was limiting my ankle flexion. Now I have 90-95% of my original mobility and no pain. I can run tough trails, climb cracks, everything.
I hope you can have similar success when you finally get yours fixed.
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quartziteflight
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 15, 2007 - 01:48pm PT
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I'm 27. To old to be young, but to young to be serious...:-)
Climbrunride,
hmm. Sounds like you could be my brother from another mother.
I thought uninsured ortho visits were about 400$ a pop?
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ewto
Mountain climber
slOwHIO
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Dec 16, 2007 - 03:57pm PT
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My first advice is to take medical advice off the internet with a grain of salt.
That said, I'll add in my own grain of salt for you.
When I took a 35 foot grounder last year, they told me in the ER I had sprained my ankle. It hurt like hell, and I was convinced it was broken, but the ER docs all swore it wasn't. I'd never broken an ankle or wrist, but I'd sprained both ankles countless times playing soccer and climbing. I knew it didn't feel like any sprain I'd ever had, but they swore it wasn't a break, so I stuck with their RICE routine for a week.
The pain seemed to be getting better, and I was walking around the house on it... but I didn't take into consideration that I was also continually hopped up on vicodin and percocet all week (due to my other injuries.) When I started backing off the percocets, suddenly I found that my ankle still hurt, worse than right after the fall. Three more trips to both the "after care clinic" from the trauma center, and also to my family doc before family doc finally sent me to a orthopedic surgeon.
Within five minutes of being in his office, he had me correctly diagnosed with a mild-grade torn tendon. It was amazing. He poked my ankle in one spot ("any pain here?") then another, then another... on the fourth poke I almost came off the table from the pain. Four or five weeks in a walking cast, followed by a few months of physical therapy, and I was back on the treadmill within a few months, backpacking a month after that, and climbing again the next season.
I still have some stiffness, but only after I'm lazy for a while. If I take a week off running or working out and lay on the couch all day, it'll start to stiffen up. The physical therapist explained that I needed the surrounding muscles to be strong enough to support the injured area.
So... short version: my advice is to always get to a specialist as soon as possible.
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matisse
climber
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Dec 16, 2007 - 04:25pm PT
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Impossible to tell without examining you, but if I had to guess with minimal info, I'd bet on a osteochondral fracture of the talus (small divot of cartilage out of the dome of the talus), it is a very common cause of pain/disability after a sprain. They are hard to diagnose, you should see someone who knows what they are doing.
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Evdawg
Trad climber
Sacramento/S. Tahoe
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Dec 16, 2007 - 04:58pm PT
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oh wait so it's not supposed to be able to crack?
i broke my ankle ~5 months ago and it cracks every morning...
:/
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Spencer Adkisson
Trad climber
Reno, NV
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Dec 16, 2007 - 05:57pm PT
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I'm not a doctor, or a PT, nor do I play one on television. However, I healed from a gnarly soft tissue ankle injury two winters ago, and feel great. Just today I saw a friend who also injured his anlke, and triumphantly declared that he too is all healed up. The advice that I gave him after he hurt his ankle is the exact same advice that someone gave me when I hurt my ankle:
Get yourself a wobble board, just a disc with a raised bump under the center. Start with both feet on it, then progress to one foot. Then do it with your eyes closed, then do it while on one foot, and playing catch with a ball and someone else, or bouncing it off the wall.
Get yourself a tube of Traumeel. (google search for Traumeel)
Get yourself a bungee, or elastic piece of rubber, tie it in a circle, and work on extension and flexation of your toes.
All of this stuff will help strengthen all the tiny muscles that are all around your ankle. It works pretty well. Maybe you too will be added to the list of people for whom this therapy worked. good luck!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Dec 17, 2007 - 11:13pm PT
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I have a strange ankle injury. It came on slowly over five years. The symptom is that I can't stand still with out it starting to hurt. I got pretty good at working around it. Instead of standing when talking to people I would pull up a chair or kneel. Finally though it got to bad. The funny thing is it was never weak. I could hike, play soccer, climb etc. I went to the doc and over two years we tried. Orthodics, PT, and a shot to the perennial tendon, which seemed like a likely suspect. No dice. The X-rays and MRIs showed some extraneous bone floating around and some arthritis. They tried some exploratory additional shots, which seemed to point to the biggest bone chip (about the size of the end of my pinky) as the main culprit. So last May 7th they went in and cleaned that baby out of there. While there they did the arthroscopic thing on the arthritic growths. I came back pretty well after about two months. I started training and was in pretty good shape for the Vedauwoo Boogaloo. I kept going and did some pretty big climbs including Zoroaster Temple. Unfortunately it started to get bad again. I'm taking a couple of months (who knows how long actually) off from climbing and training now but I'm not the optimistic. I’m just going to see if it gets better with rest. The upshot is that ankles are strange beasts indeed. Best of luck to you all.
Zander
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